Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners Implement Sunday Hunting, After Over a Decade of Effort by CSF

Why It Matters: Sunday hunting bans are one of the last remaining examples of blue laws that were initially designed to encourage church attendance. At the time when these puritanical  restrictions were enacted, other examples of activities illegal on Sundays included opening a store for business, drinking alcoholic beverages, and tilling your fields. Access is a major limiting factor hindering participation in hunting, and restrictions against hunting on Sunday provide a temporal-access barrier to those that work on the weekends and youth that attend school throughout the week and are often involved in extra-curricular activities on Saturdays. Now, thanks to the Board of Game Commissioners and the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC), Sunday hunting is now implemented in the Commonwealth.

Highlights:

• The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners met on Monday, July 28^th to discuss the implication of Sunday hunting and to receive public testimony on the matter.
• The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) strongly encouraged the implementation of Sunday hunting for all game species within the regulated seasons. CSF has been working to repeal Pennsylvania’s antiquated ban on Sunday hunting for almost 15 years, including submitting letters of support and sending an action alert, among other work educating policymakers, building public support, and coordinating with other sportsmen’s groups. Most recently, CSF submitted a letter of support to the Board of Game Commissioners for the full implementation of Sunday hunting within the regulated hunting seasons.
• The Board of Game Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a resolution encouraging the Executive Director of the PGC (Steve Smith) to implement his Executive Order powers to extend the seasons (allowing the implementation of Sunday hunting for the 2025/2026 deer and small game seasons).
• Additionally, all other game species will have Sunday hunting implemented for the 2025/2026 hunting seasons within their regulated seasons, except for migratory game birds (dictated by federal nexus and timelines that have already passed) and spring turkey season (biological sustainability concerns which will be reevaluated at the conclusion of their latest biological study in 2026).

As previously reported, , there were only three days where Sunday hunting of game species (for deer and bear) could occur. However, because of the enactment of HB 1431 (introduced by Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Member, State Representative Mandy Steele) the remaining and longstanding restrictions on Sunday hunting within the state have been removed. HB 1431 allowsed the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners to fully oversee and manage game species, hunting seasons, and bag limits sevendays a week, rather than just six days a week.

For almost 15 years, CSF has been heavily and actively engaged in repealing the longstanding and antiquated prohibition on Sunday hunting such as oral and written testimony, meetings with legislators and the PGC, grassroots campaigns, working with the Pennsylvania Legislative Sportsmen Caucus Co-Chairs and members, as well as submitting letters of support to the Governor’s Office. Now that Sunday hunting has been implemented by the Board of Game Commissioners and the PGC, CSF can continue to fight in other states who restrict access and opportunities for hunters in the North East region.

In the letter of support to the Board of Game Commissioner’s for Monday’s meeting, CSF noted that,  the resident sportsmen and women of Pennsylvania have asked for this change [Sunday hunting] for nearly two decades. Given that demand, CSF urges the Board to fully open all Sunday hunting opportunities which have been proven to not cause any increase in Law Enforcement concerns. As has been demonstrated in other states that have recently significantly expanded Sunday hunting opportunities, Sunday hunting does not negatively impact wildlife conservation efforts…”

CSF applauds the Board of Game Commissioners and the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) for the implementation of Sunday hunting and looks forward to seeing more opportunities (full implementation for all game species) for hunters during the 2026/2027 hunting seasons.

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